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Lando was worried for Carlos, he really was.
Despite knowing how much he needed to focus on maximizing his own free practices, Carlos occupied a not-so-unnoticable space in his mind and heart. He had met up with him earlier that morning, before they went to meet up with their respective teams, and Lando could tell that Carlos was not in any condition to drive.
"Holy fuck, mate. You alright there?" Lando asked the moment he entered Carlos' hotel room. Carlos' face was paler than usual, and he lay on the bed with his hand on his head, limbs sprawling all over the sheets. He only groaned in response, clearly too tired to even form a coherent sentence. Lando set his things down on an armchair nearby, and quickly marched over to where carlos was laying down. He ran a tender hand through his hair, kissing his lips ever so gently in a futile attempt to sooth his lover's pain.
"Can you even drive like this?" Lando said, concern present in his tone.
Carlos chuckled, which eventually turned into a hacking cough, and he pressed one hand to his stomach to alleviate it.
"I have to, it's not like there's anyone to fill in." Carlos managed weakly.
Lando sighed, brows furrowing.
"Surely the team can't let you drive in this state, they might as well kill you on the spot."
"Oi, cabrón, don't make me laugh anymore. Now help me sit up, I can barely move my fucking chest."
Lando wrapped an arm around Carlos' shoulder, gently heaving him up until he was sitting somewhat against the headboard. Then he let Carlos lean on his shoulder, turning their little meet up into a short cuddling session.
When Carlos attempted to snuggle in closer to Lando, Lando felt his forehead burn against his touch, and he backed away slightly.
"Fuck mate you're burning up." Lando removed himself gently from Carlos, scrambling to the other side of the room where the safety kit was.
"Cariño, don't go. I already took my temperature, I have a 39°c fever." Carlos whined, sticking out his arms as if to signal Lando to come back and keep cuddling him. Lando, however, whipped his head back in shock when he heard that.
"So you had," Lando said, emphasising each word like he was talking to a small child, "a 39 degree fever and you didn't think to tell me that to moment I walked in here?"
Carlos just stared at the bed, face flushing red, muttering a small apology--a jumbled up mix of English and Spanish. He knew Lando wasn't really upset, he was probably more worried than upset at this point. Carlos knew himself very well, he was the type to not rest unless he absolutely had to. And while lando sometimes loved that preserving attitude from him, he was equally as worried about the implications it might bring to his health.
Lando was lecturing him about this as he combed through Carlos' suitcase to find some fever meds and pain meds, meanwhile Carlos was tuning almost all of it out because the pain in his gut doubled and hit him like a ton of bricks.
And all of a sudden, lando went from one end of the room to another, tapping Carlos' shoulder and coaxing some pills into his mouth before downing it with water. Carlos appreciated it, and gave him a small kiss as a thank you because he figured talking would just make it all the more worse.
They lay there for a while, until Carlos got a voicemail from Caco telling him he needed to be at the paddock in 30 minutes.
"Darling, tell Caco you're not driving today, please?" Lando pleaded, he was more scared of Carlos accidentally blacking out or losing control of the car because of this pain than Caco scolding him.
Carlos shook his head and sighed, before struggling to get out of bed and pack his bag to head to the moterhome.
"I can't Lan, I'm sorry. but I'll see you after practice today, okay?
Lando nodded in defeat, feeling at least a little more at rest knowing that Carlos would check in after practice. It wasn't going to be an easy day for the both of them, so Lando made sure to give Carlos and extra long "good luck" hug letting him head down to the hotel lobby.
--
Free Practice 1 and 2 went quite alright for lando, aside from the fact that he was constantly worrying about his boyfriend every single minute of it. During the gap between the first and second practice, he tried calling Carlos but he had no luck. Caco had replied to his frantic calls and messages a short while later, asking him not to disturb carlos as he was napping.
Lando thought it was quite absurd. Carlos was his boyfriend, his lover for god's sake, why was he not allowed to see him if he was sick?! He couldn't wrap his head around it, but decided that if Carlos wanted some time alone he would respect it, even if he didn't like it.
The only update he got was from Jon, who told him that Ferrari had given the green light for Carlos to drive in Free Practice 2. Safe to say that when Lando heard that, he was fuming.
"Are you fucking kidding me?? This morning he couldn't even move in bed and now Ferrari are putting him in a car that's going 100km/h, what are they fucking doing?" Lando nearly screamed into the phone.
"Hey kid, calm down. He'll be fine, he's Carlos! If he can handle you, he can handle this." Jon said in the phone. He was clearly as stressed as Lando, as he knew how much Carlos meant to the kid. Hell, he was the first one in the team to get news about their relationship.
"Now promise me you'll focus on free practice 2, okay?" He asked.
Lando let out a dry chuckle and agreed, before hanging up and leaning his head back onto the wall. He groaned in frustration, feeling helpless at the thought that he couldn't be there for his boyfriend.
--
Meanwhile, in the Ferrari motorhome, Carlos clenched his stomach tightly, his eyes screwed up in pain.
Free Practice 1 was hell for him, the high-speed corners doing nothing but irritate the sharp pain in his stomach. As soon as he got out of the car he stumbled his way into the garage, until Caco found him panting and limping his way to the motorhome.
As soon as Caco gently helped him onto the bed, he fell asleep almost instatly. Caco felt bad about waking him up so that he could take painkillers, wondering how and if he would even survive the next practice.
"No. Caco, i don't need medicine." Carlos rejected, whining and batting the bottle away with his hand.
"Carlos you need painkillers. Lando told me you took one this morning, and if you don't want to faint in the car the next practice you have to take another." Caco firmly stated, an unwavering tone in his voice.
With much coaxing, he finally got Carlos to wolf down some pills with a big gulp of water, and he fell asleep promptly after.
This time Caco didn't disturb him, simply texting Lando's engineer, Jon, that Carlos was fine and fast asleep.
The entire time he slept, Caco watched over him, feeling a pang in his heart for the poor boy. No one should be forced to drive in this condition, but he knew no matter how hard he tried to persuade Ferrari, they wouldn't listen. It was a pattern he had gotten accustomed to over the years, especially for Carlos.
--
Lando was proud of Carlos in Free Practice 2. He could barely spot the Spaniard's expression but from his performance, Lando had a gut feel that he was pushing himself to the limit considering his state.
And it turned out to be completely accurate. About ten minutes after practice had ended, he got a call from Caco saying that Carlos had been admitted to the hospital.
"What?! What happened, is he okay?!"
"I honestly don't know. He was definitely not in a good state and the doctors think he has appendicitis. I think you should come over after media." Caco sighed, rubbing his forehead.
"Wh-what? My boyfriend has appendicitis and you expect me to answer to a bunch of reporters asking ridiculous-ass questions?"
"I'm not saying that, I just think it would be better for you to visit him once the doctors are done with their tests."
"And I think it would be better if you motherfuckers didn't put him in a Ferrari in his condition." Lando snapped. He knew it wasn't fair to Caco, he wasn't the one calling the shots after all.
"Norris calm down. I'll update you on his condition. See you after media."
Caco hung up, leaving Lando alone with the worrying prospect of carlos having appendicitis. He knew that Alex had had it, and the sheer impact it had on George when he had received the news.
He didn't have much time before Jon came knocking on his door, telling him it was time for the interviews.
"Look kid, I know you're worried about Carlos." Jon said, crouching down to the boy's level from where he was seated on the floor of the motorhome.
"But right now, answering to idiot journalists and their stupid questions is part of your job as a driver. So you're going to get through it, and then I'll send you over to the hospital to see your boyfriend because you are in no mental condition to drive. Is that clear?"
Jon stared sternly at Lando. His gaze softened a little when the boy met his eyes, and he could see that Lando was nearly on the verge of tears. He wrapped his arms around Lando, hugging him tightly around the shoulders. He heard a faint "alright" from the Brit, before Lando pulled away and gave him a sad smile.
"Thanks Jon, I don't know what I would do without you." Lando said, while walking to the door and taking a deep breath to calm himself before a wave of reporters would surround him.
--
Jon had never driven so fast in his life, and Lando had never felt his heart beat so quickly before (they both make a great pair).
The moment media finished, Lando rushed back to his motorhome to find his bags packed and slung over Jon's shoulder.
They both wordlessly ran to the car, dumping Lando's bags in the trunk, Jon stepping the gas pedal so quickly even Lando was caught by surprise.
Lando texted Caco that they were on their way, only to be met with a reply that simply stated, "Hurry".
"Lando, he's going to be fine. Take a deep breath c'mon, we'll be there soon." Jon reassured him.
In short, it was one of the longest car rides Lando had ever taken.
The hospital staff were fairly quick about letting Lando through, not holding him up other than to check his drivers licence for identification. They told him that Carlos was in the A&E, which only worried Lando more.
When Lando reached his ward, he opened the door to find Carlos lying on the bed, weakly greeting him as he entered. Lando lunged himself on to Carlos, not missing a single beat and tackling him with a hug.
"Oof cabrón, you're squashing me." Carlos' whispers muffled by lando's frame. Hugging Carlos made Lando feel like all the weight of the world had been lifted off his shoulders.
Carlos melted in Lando's arms, burying his head in Lando's shoulder and rubbing Lando's back soothingly. He kissed his cheek gently, using his free hand to ruffle the younger boy's curls.
Jon gestured at Caco for them to leave the room, the two silently agreeing that the couple needed some time alone after the hectic day.
Lando pulled off after some time, before planting a deep kiss on Carlos' lips. It was a much needed relief for the two of them to be able to be together privately. Lando couldn't count the amount of times he wanted to hug and kiss the pain away from Carlos when he saw him walking around the paddock.
When they pulled off, Lando could feel a bit of wetness on his cheeks. He didn't realise he had been crying, and Carlos cooed at the redness in his eyes.
"Oh don't cry, cariño I'm alright." Carlos reassured, wiping the tears of Lando's cheek as gently as he possibly could.
"Wait so you don't have appendicitis?" Lando asked, sniffling slightly. Carlos smiled sadly.
"I do, but its okay. Bearman is going to drive for me for the rest of the weekend and the doctor said that I'm getting discharged tomorrow."
Lando held Carlos' hand tightly, caressing it. He didn't know what to do, if he was being honest. It wasn't everyday your lover got appendicitis and he really wanted to stay in the hospital overnight with him. But it was still a race weekend, and a part of him wished that they could just cancel the whole thing so that he could keep Carlos company.
"Lando, mate, can you look at me?"
Lando snapped out of his thoughts and met carltos' gaze. He loved his eyes, he was sure that if he looked at them long enough he could get lost in them. They said eyes were the window to one's soul, and They were damn right about it.
"I'm going to be alright--no scratch that, we're going to be alright. This appendicitis thing, I know it seems horrible right now, but I'm going to get surgery and I'll be better in no time. And no matter what happens we'll go through it together and I'll always love you, okay?"
Lando nodded, silently thanking the fact that he had a boyfriend that was so loving and so kind because he didn't know what he would do without him.
"I love you too, mate."
Carlos smiled, planting a soft kiss on his forehead.
"Now tell me everything that happened during media cabrón, I know at least someone said something stupid or Charles and Max decided to start gossip about the rest."
Lando laughed, and laid next to his lover, happily telling him about the interviews. And inside his mind, he knew that he was here with his boyfriend, his lover, his bestfriend in the whole wide world, and everything would be okay no matter what.